CSM report?

So how did the great Canadian Ski Marathon go? I'm very interested in trying
this, perhaps next year. How tough is it? How many people do it? What are
the trails like?

Onno Oerlemans

The 38th Canadian Ski Marathon (CSM) was easy and pleasant, on the first
day. Then it got harder...

I was attempting to do my 5th Gold Coureur Des Bois. It's a minor
milestone: you get a permanent bib number. The number is then uniquely
yours whenever you do the CSM. The old timers recognize each other by their
bib numbers, usually placed on their backpack, as they come by each other on
the CSM trails. By the way, Herman "Jackrabbit" Johannsen, the "patron
saint" of CSM has permanent bib number 111, the age at which he passed
away.

This year the direction was West to East, from Buckingham to Lachute
(Quebec) with the midpoint at Montebello with a total distance of 156: 72
kms on
Saturday and 84 on Sunday. I don't know the exact stats, but I
believe there were over 2000 entrants out of which over 500 were attempting
to do the whole distance in the various Coureur des Bois categories: Bronze
(whole
distance), Silver ( whole distance and carry min 5 kg backpack), and Gold
(whole distance, carry min 5 kg backpack, carry your gear, camp out over
night.)

The weather forecast was for the temperature to go from -1C at the start on
Saturday to a low of -18C overnight and a high of -10C on Sunday. It turned
out to be colder than that for much of Sunday.

On Friday evening, the drive from our place in Ottawa to the Gold dorm in
Buckingham was made treacherous with constant freezing drizzle causing
slippery road conditions.

When I got to the dorm I re-acquainted with many CSM fellow crazies whom I
meet once a year. For the stay at the Gold dorm I used a sensory
isolation technique of ear plugs and eye cover to get a decent 8 hour
sleep. I woke up on Saturday morning, 4:15 am, to get ready and have
breakfast: good, plentiful, and quickly served.

I arrived at the start at 5:30 to test my wax and it seemed to work fine.
On Saturday morning it was still freezing drizzling slightly and the air
temp was around -3C. The Gold were off at 5:45. It was great day of fast
conditions and pleasant temperatures for skiing. Pretty soon after the start
it stopped drizzling and the temperature started a gradual fall, but my
kick and glide was great and I passed quite a few more people than I was
passed by. I got to the last checkpoint at 12:30 pm with tons of time to
spare, with
the cut off at 3:15 pm. I was at the Gold camp by 2:10 pm. It was just a
great evening at the camp, spent in good company, with nice temperatures,
around -8 with a bit of wind. The camp was full: the vast majority of the
Gold finished the first day. I had my soup with smoked bacon, freeze dried
chicken gumbo, and hot chocolate with chocolate fudge bars. Then I hit the
sack by 7 pm. I slept fitfully but well and warm in my bag (-30C rated) on
a
bed of straw. This straw is something over which the hordes of tired campers
fight valiantly for their fare share. It is provided by the local farmer
whose land is used for the Gold camp.

Overnight the temperature dropped. Couple of times I stuck my head out the
sleeping bag and there was a beautiful full moon and bright stars away from
urban light pollution. Lovely!

I got out of the bag at 4:10 am and started getting ready. It was -23C with
light wind. It didn't feel too cold while I was wearing my down jacket and
booties and sitting around the camp fire having my breakfast of instant
oats, with bacon, and tea.



It was a different story when I changed to my ski
clothes and we got started at around 6. It felt bloody cold with all kick
and no glide.
I repeatedly had to take cold fingers out of fleece gloves (in gortex
overmits) and warm them against the palm of my hands. My face was OK because
I had a medium weight balaclava on, as were my feet since I'd put on dry
socks and overboots. But my hands I had to pay attention to. At the first
checkpoint I considered stepping into a "warming hut" (not a regular feature
of checkpoints.) Instead, I decided to change into thicker gloves and
windmill my hands. And I had some more smoked bacon. This seemed to do the
trick and I stopped having problems with cold hands or anything else there
after. However, there was no glide to be had until about 10 am when the sun
started warming up the snow. The air temperature had got up to around -15C
by then. All this started putting me under some time pressure.

I did not get into section 3 until after 10:30 and had a real struggle
getting through it. Anyone who's done the CSM knows that section 3 is the
crux, especially in a West-to-East year. I had to do a lot of serious
talking to myself and refuel a number of times with my secret weapon: smoked
bacon. Pork power! I managed to be into section 2 (one before last) by 1:15
pm and made it to the last checkpoint just before 3 pm, with 15 minutes to
spare before the dreaded cut off.

I enjoyed finishing the last section in the company of friends, one of whom
also enjoyed some of my smoked bacon to refuel him for the last 10 km! We
were in Lachute by 5:10 with the locals cheering us on to the finish line at
the town hall, and then on to the school, shower, beer, banquet.

At the ceremonies at the banquet, sitting in the company of fine friends, I
found out that we had a 13 year old girl complete Coureur des Bois Gold, and
a 12 year old boy do the Silver. We also had Pierre Harvey, a ski racing
legend in Canada, do his first Gold this year. He said it was one of the
hardest ski events he's done. I think he was being a tad encouragingly
modest :-) We also had skiers from many places in North America, and well as
Norway and Denmark. For me though, the most impressive and inspiring CSM
participant was the Para Olympian who I saw skiing one of the harder
sections
sitting in a sled, pushing and controlling only with his poles going down
tricky downhills and steep ups.

Once again the event was very well organized with the many (over 500)
volunteers including the Canadian Army Cadets, Scouts, safety medics and
radio operators, as well as local schools. The CSM can only happen with the
cooperation of many land owners who allow the use of their land-- some of
whom also provide excellent cookies and coffee at unofficial stops! For more
info on the CSM go to the web site: www.csm-mcs.com

Parham Momtahan.

PS For the waxoholics: Given the temperature swing, the waxing was
interesting. I used two layers of cold glide -10-30C (Toko Dibloc LF
Blue) and a top layer of warmer -4-10C (Toko Dibloc LF Red); each scraped
and brushed with a nylon brush with no structuring. I used a base binder on
top of a 150 sanded grip area. I left the kick wax choice to Saturday
morning
when the snow temp was -1C. I started off using Rode Blue Super Extra
(-1-5C) because of the humidity and then as it got colder I put on a layer
of Swix Cera F -1-8C (a favourite wax which they no longer sell.) On Sunday
I started with Swix Green (-6-11), scraped and put on Special Green
(-10-15C) hoping to get a bit more glide, no dice, and then as it got
warmer by around noon, I put on the Cera F (-1-8C) again.

Eddie,

Great update and report.

As you noted Saturday was fast fast fast. Sunday was slow, but because
I stayed at the Chateau Montebello managed to wax my skis Saturday
night and had pretty good glide. Craig a friend of mine on his second
gold waxed at camp and had very little glide.

I finished the silver this year and hope to see you at the Gold camp
sometime soon.

Sam Nelson

Eddy Rapid wrote:
The 38th Canadian Ski Marathon (CSM) was easy and pleasant, on the first
day. Then it got harder...

I was attempting to do my 5th Gold Coureur Des Bois. It's a minor
milestone: you get a permanent bib number. The number is then uniquely
yours whenever you do the CSM. The old timers recognize each other by their
bib numbers, usually placed on their backpack, as they come by each other on
the CSM trails. By the way, Herman "Jackrabbit" Johannsen, the "patron
saint" of CSM has permanent bib number 111, the age at which he passed
away.

This year the direction was West to East, from Buckingham to Lachute
(Quebec) with the midpoint at Montebello with a total distance of 156: 72
kms on
Saturday and 84 on Sunday. I don't know the exact stats, but I
believe there were over 2000 entrants out of which over 500 were attempting
to do the whole distance in the various Coureur des Bois categories: Bronze
(whole
distance), Silver ( whole distance and carry min 5 kg backpack), and Gold
(whole distance, carry min 5 kg backpack, carry your gear, camp out over
night.)

The weather forecast was for the temperature to go from -1C at the start on
Saturday to a low of -18C overnight and a high of -10C on Sunday. It turned
out to be colder than that for much of Sunday.

On Friday evening, the drive from our place in Ottawa to the Gold dorm in
Buckingham was made treacherous with constant freezing drizzle causing
slippery road conditions.

When I got to the dorm I re-acquainted with many CSM fellow crazies whom I
meet once a year. For the stay at the Gold dorm I used a sensory
isolation technique of ear plugs and eye cover to get a decent 8 hour
sleep. I woke up on Saturday morning, 4:15 am, to get ready and have
breakfast: good, plentiful, and quickly served.

I arrived at the start at 5:30 to test my wax and it seemed to work fine.
On Saturday morning it was still freezing drizzling slightly and the air
temp was around -3C. The Gold were off at 5:45. It was great day of fast
conditions and pleasant temperatures for skiing. Pretty soon after the start
it stopped drizzling and the temperature started a gradual fall, but my
kick and glide was great and I passed quite a few more people than I was
passed by. I got to the last checkpoint at 12:30 pm with tons of time to
spare, with
the cut off at 3:15 pm. I was at the Gold camp by 2:10 pm. It was just a
great evening at the camp, spent in good company, with nice temperatures,
around -8 with a bit of wind. The camp was full: the vast majority of the
Gold finished the first day. I had my soup with smoked bacon, freeze dried
chicken gumbo, and hot chocolate with chocolate fudge bars. Then I hit the
sack by 7 pm. I slept fitfully but well and warm in my bag (-30C rated) on
a
bed of straw. This straw is something over which the hordes of tired campers
fight valiantly for their fare share. It is provided by the local farmer
whose land is used for the Gold camp.

Overnight the temperature dropped. Couple of times I stuck my head out the
sleeping bag and there was a beautiful full moon and bright stars away from
urban light pollution. Lovely!

I got out of the bag at 4:10 am and started getting ready. It was -23C with
light wind. It didn't feel too cold while I was wearing my down jacket and
booties and sitting around the camp fire having my breakfast of instant
oats, with bacon, and tea.



It was a different story when I changed to my ski
clothes and we got started at around 6. It felt bloody cold with all kick
and no glide.
I repeatedly had to take cold fingers out of fleece gloves (in gortex
overmits) and warm them against the palm of my hands. My face was OK because
I had a medium weight balaclava on, as were my feet since I'd put on dry
socks and overboots. But my hands I had to pay attention to. At the first
checkpoint I considered stepping into a "warming hut" (not a regular feature
of checkpoints.) Instead, I decided to change into thicker gloves and
windmill my hands. And I had some more smoked bacon. This seemed to do the
trick and I stopped having problems with cold hands or anything else there
after. However, there was no glide to be had until about 10 am when the sun
started warming up the snow. The air temperature had got up to around -15C
by then. All this started putting me under some time pressure.

I did not get into section 3 until after 10:30 and had a real struggle
getting through it. Anyone who's done the CSM knows that section 3 is the
crux, especially in a West-to-East year. I had to do a lot of serious
talking to myself and refuel a number of times with my secret weapon: smoked
bacon. Pork power! I managed to be into section 2 (one before last) by 1:15
pm and made it to the last checkpoint just before 3 pm, with 15 minutes to
spare before the dreaded cut off.

I enjoyed finishing the last section in the company of friends, one of whom
also enjoyed some of my smoked bacon to refuel him for the last 10 km! We
were in Lachute by 5:10 with the locals cheering us on to the finish line at
the town hall, and then on to the school, shower, beer, banquet.

At the ceremonies at the banquet, sitting in the company of fine friends, I
found out that we had a 13 year old girl complete Coureur des Bois Gold, and
a 12 year old boy do the Silver. We also had Pierre Harvey, a ski racing
legend in Canada, do his first Gold this year. He said it was one of the
hardest ski events he's done. I think he was being a tad encouragingly
modest :-) We also had skiers from many places in North America, and well as
Norway and Denmark. For me though, the most impressive and inspiring CSM
participant was the Para Olympian who I saw skiing one of the harder
sections
sitting in a sled, pushing and controlling only with his poles going down
tricky downhills and steep ups.

Once again the event was very well organized with the many (over 500)
volunteers including the Canadian Army Cadets, Scouts, safety medics and
radio operators, as well as local schools. The CSM can only happen with the
cooperation of many land owners who allow the use of their land-- some of
whom also provide excellent cookies and coffee at unofficial stops! For more
info on the CSM go to the web site: www.csm-mcs.com

Parham Momtahan.

PS For the waxoholics: Given the temperature swing, the waxing was
interesting. I used two layers of cold glide -10-30C (Toko Dibloc LF
Blue) and a top layer of warmer -4-10C (Toko Dibloc LF Red); each scraped
and brushed with a nylon brush with no structuring. I used a base binder on
top of a 150 sanded grip area. I left the kick wax choice to Saturday
morning
when the snow temp was -1C. I started off using Rode Blue Super Extra
(-1-5C) because of the humidity and then as it got colder I put on a layer
of Swix Cera F -1-8C (a favourite wax which they no longer sell.) On Sunday
I started with Swix Green (-6-11), scraped and put on Special Green
(-10-15C) hoping to get a bit more glide, no dice, and then as it got
warmer by around noon, I put on the Cera F (-1-8C) again.

Thanks and major congrats, Sam.

I actually think that the Silver is as tough as Gold in terms of the skiing,
though a tad easier in terms of logistics such as equipment/wax, because
you're carrying most of the weight (my pack was 21lb at the start vs the
minimum 15lb), you start later, and you have to ski a couple of kms more;
not to mention the fact that you have to pass a lot of the slower Gold. So
yours is a major achievement!

What was your glide wax on Sunday?

See you at the Gold camp next year, I hope.

Parham Momtahan.

"sam" wrote in message
k.net...
Eddie,

Great update and report.

As you noted Saturday was fast fast fast. Sunday was slow, but because
I stayed at the Chateau Montebello managed to wax my skis Saturday
night and had pretty good glide. Craig a friend of mine on his second
gold waxed at camp and had very little glide.

I finished the silver this year and hope to see you at the Gold camp
sometime soon.

Sam Nelson

Eddy Rapid wrote:
The 38th Canadian Ski Marathon (CSM) was easy and pleasant, on the first
day. Then it got harder...

I was attempting to do my 5th Gold Coureur Des Bois. It's a minor
milestone: you get a permanent bib number. The number is then uniquely
yours whenever you do the CSM. The old timers recognize each other by
their
bib numbers, usually placed on their backpack, as they come by each
other on
the CSM trails. By the way, Herman "Jackrabbit" Johannsen, the "patron
saint" of CSM has permanent bib number 111, the age at which he passed
away.

This year the direction was West to East, from Buckingham to Lachute
(Quebec) with the midpoint at Montebello with a total distance of 156:
72
kms on
Saturday and 84 on Sunday. I don't know the exact stats, but I
believe there were over 2000 entrants out of which over 500 were
attempting
to do the whole distance in the various Coureur des Bois categories:
Bronze
(whole
distance), Silver ( whole distance and carry min 5 kg backpack), and
Gold
(whole distance, carry min 5 kg backpack, carry your gear, camp out over
night.)

The weather forecast was for the temperature to go from -1C at the start
on
Saturday to a low of -18C overnight and a high of -10C on Sunday. It
turned
out to be colder than that for much of Sunday.

On Friday evening, the drive from our place in Ottawa to the Gold dorm
in
Buckingham was made treacherous with constant freezing drizzle causing
slippery road conditions.

When I got to the dorm I re-acquainted with many CSM fellow crazies whom
I
meet once a year. For the stay at the Gold dorm I used a sensory
isolation technique of ear plugs and eye cover to get a decent 8 hour
sleep. I woke up on Saturday morning, 4:15 am, to get ready and have
breakfast: good, plentiful, and quickly served.

I arrived at the start at 5:30 to test my wax and it seemed to work
fine.
On Saturday morning it was still freezing drizzling slightly and the air
temp was around -3C. The Gold were off at 5:45. It was great day of
fast
conditions and pleasant temperatures for skiing. Pretty soon after the
start
it stopped drizzling and the temperature started a gradual fall, but my
kick and glide was great and I passed quite a few more people than I was
passed by. I got to the last checkpoint at 12:30 pm with tons of time to
spare, with
the cut off at 3:15 pm. I was at the Gold camp by 2:10 pm. It was just
a
great evening at the camp, spent in good company, with nice
temperatures,
around -8 with a bit of wind. The camp was full: the vast majority of
the
Gold finished the first day. I had my soup with smoked bacon, freeze
dried
chicken gumbo, and hot chocolate with chocolate fudge bars. Then I hit
the
sack by 7 pm. I slept fitfully but well and warm in my bag (-30C rated)
on
a
bed of straw. This straw is something over which the hordes of tired
campers
fight valiantly for their fare share. It is provided by the local
farmer
whose land is used for the Gold camp.

Overnight the temperature dropped. Couple of times I stuck my head out
the
sleeping bag and there was a beautiful full moon and bright stars away
from
urban light pollution. Lovely!

I got out of the bag at 4:10 am and started getting ready. It was -23C
with
light wind. It didn't feel too cold while I was wearing my down jacket
and
booties and sitting around the camp fire having my breakfast of instant
oats, with bacon, and tea.



It was a different story when I changed to my ski
clothes and we got started at around 6. It felt bloody cold with all
kick
and no glide.
I repeatedly had to take cold fingers out of fleece gloves (in gortex
overmits) and warm them against the palm of my hands. My face was OK
because
I had a medium weight balaclava on, as were my feet since I'd put on dry
socks and overboots. But my hands I had to pay attention to. At the
first
checkpoint I considered stepping into a "warming hut" (not a regular
feature
of checkpoints.) Instead, I decided to change into thicker gloves and
windmill my hands. And I had some more smoked bacon. This seemed to do
the
trick and I stopped having problems with cold hands or anything else
there
after. However, there was no glide to be had until about 10 am when the
sun
started warming up the snow. The air temperature had got up to
around -15C
by then. All this started putting me under some time pressure.

I did not get into section 3 until after 10:30 and had a real struggle
getting through it. Anyone who's done the CSM knows that section 3 is
the
crux, especially in a West-to-East year. I had to do a lot of serious
talking to myself and refuel a number of times with my secret weapon:
smoked
bacon. Pork power! I managed to be into section 2 (one before last) by
1:15
pm and made it to the last checkpoint just before 3 pm, with 15 minutes
to
spare before the dreaded cut off.

I enjoyed finishing the last section in the company of friends, one of
whom
also enjoyed some of my smoked bacon to refuel him for the last 10 km!
We
were in Lachute by 5:10 with the locals cheering us on to the finish
line at
the town hall, and then on to the school, shower, beer, banquet.

At the ceremonies at the banquet, sitting in the company of fine
friends, I
found out that we had a 13 year old girl complete Coureur des Bois Gold,
and
a 12 year old boy do the Silver. We also had Pierre Harvey, a ski racing
legend in Canada, do his first Gold this year. He said it was one of the
hardest ski events he's done. I think he was being a tad encouragingly
modest :-) We also had skiers from many places in North America, and
well as
Norway and Denmark. For me though, the most impressive and inspiring CSM
participant was the Para Olympian who I saw skiing one of the harder
sections
sitting in a sled, pushing and controlling only with his poles going
down
tricky downhills and steep ups.

Once again the event was very well organized with the many (over 500)
volunteers including the Canadian Army Cadets, Scouts, safety medics
and
radio operators, as well as local schools. The CSM can only happen with
the
cooperation of many land owners who allow the use of their land-- some
of
whom also provide excellent cookies and coffee at unofficial stops! For
more
info on the CSM go to the web site: www.csm-mcs.com

Parham Momtahan.

PS For the waxoholics: Given the temperature swing, the waxing was
interesting. I used two layers of cold glide -10-30C (Toko Dibloc LF
Blue) and a top layer of warmer -4-10C (Toko Dibloc LF Red); each
scraped
and brushed with a nylon brush with no structuring. I used a base
binder on
top of a 150 sanded grip area. I left the kick wax choice to Saturday
morning
when the snow temp was -1C. I started off using Rode Blue Super Extra
(-1-5C) because of the humidity and then as it got colder I put on a
layer
of Swix Cera F -1-8C (a favourite wax which they no longer sell.) On
Sunday
I started with Swix Green (-6-11), scraped and put on Special Green
(-10-15C) hoping to get a bit more glide, no dice, and then as it got
warmer by around noon, I put on the Cera F (-1-8C) again.

Heartiest congratulations to Parham on getting that 5th Gold, and
a permanent CSM number. I'm envious. This comes up every year, perhaps
to everyone else's boredom, but when Parham suddenly put on about
20lb. (10kg.) a number of years ago---that was the backpack for
CSM Gold, he needed stiffer skiis, so I bought his old RCS's. They're
the fastest classical skiis I've ever had, the bases are starting to
show a lot of history, but those are the skiis that will be doing
50K Saturday morning (unless something drastic happens to require
klister!) Anyway, maybe the year I'm 64 and at the dreaded back end
of my age category, I'll get back to doing the CSM instead of
embarrassing myself at Keskinada. At least there, they don't
publish your time. Parham will probably look back at that tough
Sunday with pleasure, getting the 5th shouldn't be too easy. His
Saturday time is really very fast as far as I'm concerned. I never
finished the first day better than one hour more than he took.

Best, Peter

Great report, thanks. I've got to get back to doing that.
Reading this makes me miss it.

Comments follow...

In article ,
Eddy Rapid wrote:


with a total distance of 156: 72 kms on Saturday and 84 on Sunday.

It's getting a bit shorter? Are they still grooming it well?
Actually setting tracks, rather than just passing by on a skidoo?


I got to the last checkpoint at 12:30 pm

Wow!

Overnight the temperature dropped.

Always does, doesn't it?


Anyone who's done the CSM knows that section 3 is the
crux, especially in a West-to-East year.

Well, you climb a lot, then descend fast.

We also had Pierre Harvey, a ski racing
legend in Canada, do his first Gold this year. He said it was one of the
hardest ski events he's done. I think he was being a tad encouragingly
modest :-)


He came back! I was talking with him when he did his silver,
and he pretty much told me the same thing. He also told me
that he didn't want to ever do it again. He said he was OK
going for 3 hours or so, but it killed him to have to keep
going longer. No, I think he meant it. He's more of a 'sprinter'.




the waxing was
interesting.

Always is. It is neer like waxing for a short race where conditions
are relatively constant.

Thanks again for the report. Maybe I'll see you at the gold camp
next year (too many broken bones to even think about it this year)

-Pete

--
--
"It's a sad day for american capitalism when a man
can't fly a midget on a kite over Central Park."
J. Moran

Thanks Peter. I would be happy to be as fast as you at any age! Ironically,
I now have a pair of 2002 RCSs that are too stiff for me, I went overboard
with stiffness when I bought them (never raced or rallied :-)

Looks like you've chosen the right Keski day! It's uncannily looking like
the repeat of the CSM weekend weather pattern for the Keski (hopefully minus
the drizzle :-) Best of luck and enjoy!

Let me know if you end up doing the CSM next year.

Parham.

wrote in message
...
Heartiest congratulations to Parham on getting that 5th Gold, and
a permanent CSM number. I'm envious. This comes up every year, perhaps
to everyone else's boredom, but when Parham suddenly put on about
20lb. (10kg.) a number of years ago---that was the backpack for
CSM Gold, he needed stiffer skiis, so I bought his old RCS's. They're
the fastest classical skiis I've ever had, the bases are starting to
show a lot of history, but those are the skiis that will be doing
50K Saturday morning (unless something drastic happens to require
klister!) Anyway, maybe the year I'm 64 and at the dreaded back end
of my age category, I'll get back to doing the CSM instead of
embarrassing myself at Keskinada. At least there, they don't
publish your time. Parham will probably look back at that tough
Sunday with pleasure, getting the 5th shouldn't be too easy. His
Saturday time is really very fast as far as I'm concerned. I never
finished the first day better than one hour more than he took.

Best, Peter

In terms of distances, the Montebello to Buckingham section has been around
the 72 km mark for about three years at least. So the distances are a tad
(4-7 km) shorter than compared to when it used to finish at the Nicholas
school in Gatineau.There are minor route changes every year, based on land
owners and checkpoint logistics, so it has never been exactly 160 km,
sometimes a bit more and sometimes less. For the Lachute to Montebello
section in an East-to-west year, you have to now ski 71 km before the 3:15
cut-off, which got a few people last year.

The trails were machine double tracked for all of the first day, and most
of the second day (They now use a Bombardier track setting machine, I
believe.) However, there were some areas on the second day that were single
tracked because it was too narrow. I would say the track setting this year
was excellent given the conditions and the logistics-- however, not to
Gatineau parkway standards ;-)

BTW, we had an overnight temp of -2C on Friday night (so in fact the temp
went up on Friday night) going down to -23C on Saturday night.

Pete, I hope you mend well and it would be great to see around the Gold Camp
next year.

Parham.

"Pete Hickey" wrote in message
.. .
Great report, thanks. I've got to get back to doing that.
Reading this makes me miss it.

Comments follow...

In article ,
Eddy Rapid wrote:


with a total distance of 156: 72 kms on Saturday and 84 on Sunday.

It's getting a bit shorter? Are they still grooming it well?
Actually setting tracks, rather than just passing by on a skidoo?


I got to the last checkpoint at 12:30 pm

Wow!

Overnight the temperature dropped.

Always does, doesn't it?


Anyone who's done the CSM knows that section 3 is the
crux, especially in a West-to-East year.

Well, you climb a lot, then descend fast.

We also had Pierre Harvey, a ski racing
legend in Canada, do his first Gold this year. He said it was one of the
hardest ski events he's done. I think he was being a tad encouragingly
modest :-)


He came back! I was talking with him when he did his silver,
and he pretty much told me the same thing. He also told me
that he didn't want to ever do it again. He said he was OK
going for 3 hours or so, but it killed him to have to keep
going longer. No, I think he meant it. He's more of a 'sprinter'.




the waxing was
interesting.

Always is. It is neer like waxing for a short race where conditions
are relatively constant.

Thanks again for the report. Maybe I'll see you at the gold camp
next year (too many broken bones to even think about it this year)

-Pete

--
--
"It's a sad day for american capitalism when a man
can't fly a midget on a kite over Central Park."
J. Moran

In article ,
Eddy Rapid wrote:
In terms of distances, the Montebello to Buckingham section has been around
the 72 km mark for about three years at least. So the distances are a tad
(4-7 km) shorter than compared to when it used to finish at the Nicholas
school in Gatineau.There are minor route changes every year, based on land
owners and checkpoint logistics, so it has never been exactly 160 km,
sometimes a bit more and sometimes less.


I seem to remember it being 168km back in the early 90's. Almost
90km one day, and 70km the next.... Took a quick look for my old
papers, but didn't find them, do memory could be wrong.


Met some friends at the Keski (one of them a 20-something timer)
who were bugging me 'cause I don't do the marathon anymore.


--
--
"It's a sad day for american capitalism when a man
can't fly a midget on a kite over Central Park."
J. Moran

"Pete Hickey" wrote
seem to remember it being 168km back in the early 90's. Almost
90km one day, and 70km the next.... Took a quick look for my old
papers, but didn't find them, do memory could be wrong.



The oldest route map that I managed to find in my basement is from 1996
(Gatineau to Lachute) when I did my first Gold:

83.4 (day 1), 78.2 (day 2) = 161.6 km


Parham.